The Letter
by Laura Schiller
Summary: Master Fong gets a scare, and Pudding a well deserved break.


The Letter

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Tokyo Mew Mew

Copyright: Reiko Yoshida, Mia Ikumi

The moment Master Fong took off his shoes in the entryway of the house he hadn't set foot in for over a year, he found himself the center of a small hurricane.

"Father! You're back! Let me through – me first, me first!" Four boys and one girl rushed him all at once, clinging to his legs, snatching his suitcase, dancing around him like a flock of twittering sparrows. "Big Sister!" they yelled. "Father's here!"

Pudding's tousled blond head peered out through the kitchen door. She rubbed her brown eyes with both fists, regardless of the dishtowel in one hand.

"My brave girl," said Master Fong, holding out his other arm, the one that wasn't carrying Hei Cha. "Come here."

Pudding launched herself into her father's arms like a little cannonball.

It was not until later, when Hei Cha and the quadruplets were in bed and Master Fong had matter-of-factly taken over washing the dishes that the hurricane faded into an awkward silence. Pudding was usually anything but silent, but she hadn't seen her father in so long that she didn't know how to behave. Characteristically, she blurted out the first thing on her mind.

"Why'd you come back now, na no da? Not that we're not glad to see you and everything, but … but Pudding was doing just fine by herself, na no da."

Master Fong looked sternly down at her from his formidable height. "Were you really?"

Pudding squirmed. "Yes, of course, na no da!" she shot back indignantly. "You didn't need to interrupt your important training just for us!"

"_Just _for you?" Master Fong sighed and shook his head. "I really have been gone for far too long, if that's how you think. Shall we say … I had a wake-up call."

He fished an envelope out of the pocket of his red silk shirt and handed it to Pudding. She unfolded it with a puzzled 'na no da?', frowning at the topsy-turvy sprawl of writing on the page.

_dear Father please come back. We are worried about Big Sister she is __Very Sick__, can not get up or cook or clean but she tries anyway She leave Hei Cha to wait alone in school and Strangers almost pick Hei Cha up instead. she Big Sister works So hard in the street and the Café Mew mew What is a Mew mew do you know. __Please Come Back__._

By the time Pudding had puzzled it out, she was close to tears. A glance at the envelope showed the address written in a neat, adult hand.

"Sensei," she muttered, half to herself. "Hei Cha's kndergarten teacher … she must have helped them with the letter, na no da. It's amazing how well the boys have learned to write … "

A sob choked off whatever she had been about to say next. She wiped her eyes. Had the little ones really done so much for her?

"That letter," said Master Fong, "Worried me terribly. I sent Yuebin to look after you, but then he came back again – and even though he told me you were in good health, his wild stories about monsters and aliens were enough to make me come straight back here. I should never have left you children alone."

His fierce look of self-reproach intensified as he raked his hand through his long black hair.

"But it's all right, na no da," said Pudding. "Pudding got better after just one day, and her friend helped her out with the housework. They're so nice, Father, it's like having four big sisters. And the monsters were just, uh, stray animals that got a bit out of control. But they didn't hurt us and we brought them back to their natural habitats. And Sensei's been like an angel for us, na no da."

"Your friends? Are these the 'strangers' your siblings mentioned?"

"Yes, na no da. My coworkers at the Café Mew Mew."

"You work in a café? How is that even legal?"

"Don't know, na no da." Pudding shrugged.

"She doesn't know … " He prodded the letter with his finger. "And what's this about you working on the street?"

Pudding smiled proudly and drew herself up. "Pudding's a juggler and an acrobat, na no da. She makes lots of money, na no da."

"And what about school?"

Another shrug. "Pudding would go, but she doesn't have the time. Got to work to pay the bills and buy groceries, na no da."

"You mean the checks I sent weren't enough? Why in Heaven's name didn't you _say_ something?"

Pudding hesitated a little before answering, and when she did, her face and voice were unusually grave.

"The checks were okay, Father. It's only … Mother said Pudding should be strong and take care of the children, na no da," she said. "And Pudding has been doing just that. She figures you can't have needed us very much if you went away like that. So we don't need you either. Na no da."

Master Fong threw his dishcloth onto the counter. Pudding's eyes traveled upward from the flick of the cloth to his face. He was blinking very fast; something shiny traveled down his cheek.

"Pudding's so sorry," she hurried to say. "She always talks too much. Even if it's true, she shouldn't have said it, na no da."

Master Fong shook his head.

"No," he said hoarsely. "No … I am the one who should apologize."

Pudding didn't ask 'what for?' as she might have a year ago. She had fought an invasion and made friends with her enemy. She knew as much about wrongs and forgiveness as most adults.

"When your mother died," said Master Fong, "I didn't see how I could possibly go on living. It was as if the sun had set, never to rise again. I felt I was partly … giving birth to the quadruplets weakened her considerably, you see. When she became pregnant with your little sister, the doctors advised against carrying the baby to term. I argued against it. I told them my wife was strong enough, that any child of ours was strong enough, and she agreed. After Hei Cha was born, she faded away bit by bit."

"Pudding's _glad_ Hei Cha was born, na no da!"

"So am I, of course. That's not what I meant. Still … one is very tempted to ask 'what might have been'? And when she passed … it was so gradual, remember? She would get better, and come home, and potter about in the kitchen just as she used to, and then it would be back to the hospital and those beeping machines … you see, my daughter, your father is not as brave as you are. I couldn't cope with the memories in this house any longer. I ran away."

Pudding nodded. She understood now; she would have liked to run away herself in that dark time, except that she had been landed with the responsibility of looking after her little siblings. One didn't have time to brood with four seven-year-olds and a four-year-old on one's hands.

"You should have kept on smiling," she told her father. "That's what Pudding does, na no da."

A soft smile grew in Master Fong's face. "Isn't that one of your mother's sayings."

"Yes, na no da. Pudding lives by it every day."

"I can see that." Master Fong reached out a tentative hand to stroke his daughter's golden hair.

"Can you ever forgive me, my daughter?"

Pudding nodded.

"Only, Father, one more thing … "

"Yes?"

Pudding clasped her hands dramatically. "_Please_ don't make Pudding marry Yuebin! He's an okay guy but he's way too old, na no da!"

Master Fong chuckled. "You know, in ten years the age difference might not – "

"_Please_, na no da!" She turned her huge brown eyes on him, a weapon that never failed in getting her pastries from Keiichiro or a pay raise from Ryou.

"All right," said Master Fong. "I won't hold you to a promise you don't want to make."

"Thank you, na no da!"

And with a hearty Pudding squeeze, Master Fong was completely welcomed at least into his children's house.


End file.
